Trouble in Paradise
Trouble in Paradise 1932, NR, 83 min. Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Herbert Marshall, Miriam Hopkins, Kay Francis. Arguably, Trouble in Paradise is the great Ernst Lubitsch’s best film. It’s story of rival jewel thieves who steal each other’s hearts. And it’s no false hyperbole to call it a…
One Eye Peeled
One Eye Peeled NR. Directed by , Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . It’s a test screening of a new, locally developed feature-length comedy and the filmmakers want you to be the audience. Attendees will be asked to complete a critical survey at the end of the movie. One Eye Peeled is not yet…
Mau Mau Sex Sex
Mau Mau Sex Sex 2000, NR, 80 min. Directed by Ted Bonnit, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . Profiled in this documentary are David Friedman and Dan Sonney, legendary old-time purveyors of cinematic sleaze and exploitation. These producers ñ individually and together ñ produced what were called nudie cuties, which later gave way…
2000 Maniacs!
2000 Maniacs! 1964, NR, 87 min. Directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring William Kerwin, Connie Mason, Jeffrey Allen, Ben Moore, Gary Bakeman, Jerome Eden, Shelby Livingston. One of the sickest movies ever made, this epic from the Godfather of Gore, Herschell Gordon Lewis, is remarkably durable. Brimming with chicken-fried…
Wisconsin Death Trip
Wisconsin Death Trip 1999, NR, 76 min. Directed by James Marsh, Narrated by Ian Holm, Voices by , Starring . Michael Lesy’s macabre 1973 cult book of photographs has been given the documentary treatment in this seemingly made-for-the-movies true story. The film documents the tragedy that befell the rural community of Black River Falls, Wisconsin…
Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41
Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 1973, NR, 93 min. Directed by Shunya Ito, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Meiko Kaji. This 1973 film has only recently been released in the U.S. Stunningly photographed and incredibly violent, Female Convict Scorpion is one of the most brutal and rousing woman-in-prison pictures ever filmed. The prisoner…
Flicker No.7
Flicker No.7 NR. Directed by Various., Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . Flicker No. 7 marks the one-year anniversary of this bimonthly film festival that showcases short films by local and national filmmakers who submit works via mail. Flicker guarantees an array of projects and intriguing juxtapositions at every screening, with linear narratives…
A Nation Duped
A Nation Duped G. Directed by Various, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . This program of videos comes from Paper Tiger TV and Democracy Now! “Military Myths” focuses on societal militarism and racial, economic, and political profiling within the military system. Also included is a video talk by people’s historian Howard Zinn on…
Exhibitionism
Dance!
Waitin’ ‘Round to Live
The making and subsequent success of Poet: A Tribute to Townes Van Zandt
Making Hay at the ARA
The city’s Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Office moves on up to the Eastside.
Blue Screen Schedule
Feb. 11The Beaver Trilogy Feb. 18A Nation Duped: Video presentation by Paper Tiger TV and Democracy NOW!; video talk by Howard Zinn (A People’s History of the United States) Feb. 25Peripheral Produce: Matt McCormick shorts (“The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal” and “Going to the Ocean”) with live electronic keyboard and xylophone accompaniment by Johnne…
Big Fat Liar
Big Fat Liar 2002, PG, 104 min. Directed by Shawn Levy, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Frankie Muniz, Paul Giamatti, Amanda Bynes, Amanda Detmer, Donald Faison, Lee Majors. Hollywood’s already pillaged all our fairy tales; it only makes sense they’d co-opt our moral fables next. Big Fat Liar is the “Boy Who Cried…
Learning One’s Letters
Why was Oscar Wilde’s ‘Letter to Momma’ lurking undiscovered in Texas?
I Come From the Water
Sideman / producer Gurf Morlix delivers album number two.
Human Rights Complaint Filed Against State Senate
Three former Senate staffers have filed suit for discriminatory firing.
The Next Party
SXSW Film gets political.
Storytelling
Storytelling 2001, R, 84 min. Directed by Todd Solondz, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Xander Berkeley, Mike Schank, Franka Potente, Lupe Ontiveros, Jonathan Osser, Julie Hagerty, John Goodman, Mark Webber, Paul Giamatti, Aleska Palladino, Robert Wisdom, Leo Fitzpatrick, Selma Blair. If it seemed as though filmmaker Todd Solondz wanted nothing more in his…
Recommended
Brit writer Sarah Waters impressed readers when her bold first novel Tipping the Velvet was published in 1999. That novel was interesting, but Waters keeps revving herself up, getting better and better. Affinity (2000), another one of her literary mysteries set in Victorian England in which two women must initially hint around about their love…
Gurf Morlix Reviewed
Gurf Morlix Fishin’ in the Muddy (Catamount) Since the breakup of his musical relationship with Lucinda Williams a number of years ago, guitarist Gurf Morlix has been mighty busy. He’s produced award-winning albums for the likes of Slaid Cleaves, Ray Wylie Hubbard, and Robert Earl Keen; added his instrumental talents to the music of a…
An Abstinence of Judgment
The Bush administration’s new appointee to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV / AIDS is motivated more by ideology than science, critics warn.
Afternoon Snack
A local arts program provides fun for kids after school.
Burnt Money
Burnt Money 2000, NR, 125 min. Directed by Marcelo Piñeyro, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Delores Fonzi, Ricardo Bartis, Leticia Brédice, Pablo Echarri, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Eduardo Noriega. Fusillades of lead and freshets of gore: that’s what love is made of in this Argentinian crime story about two gay bank robbers affectionately called “the…
Sloppy Mr. Cunningham Speaks
The surprising things Michael Cunningham said when he gave a reading at UT last week
Dancing About Architecture
The Austin Music Awards lineup is announced, as are new ratings points for KUT.
Brack Plans Face New Roadblock
The city’s plans to create a hospital-within-a-hospital at Brack hit yet another snag.
Shooting Gallery
Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams: Robert Rodriguez and Co. have returned from location in the West Texas badlands near Terlingua and are currently shooting at the old Robert Mueller Airport for the feature sequel that surely needs no introduction to fans of the Rodriguez/Elizabeth Avellan global domination master plan. As always, the…
Page Two
The events of the week form themselves into a kind of poetry.
Tube Talk
Don’t be shocked when you turn to the Austin Music Network next Monday and find nothing but snow. In fact, don’t be surprised when you continue flipping past for the rest of the week to find no improvement. The all-Austin music cable channel hasn’t gone off the air permanently, rather bossman Woody Roberts says the…
Who Owns the Ancestors?
Excavations near Victoria promise a scientific gold mine, but possible objections from Native American leaders leave the project’s fate uncertain.
Short Cuts
Michael Bay gets into “Leather” …
Letters at 3AM
To be an artist is to live a life of service to one’s gift.
Get Your Jojo Working
Local Jonathan Richman fans have been somewhat spoiled in the past few years, with the founder of the Modern Lovers pretty much guaranteed to do at least two or three Austin dates a year. He’s back at the Continental Club this Friday and Saturday, hot on the heels of Her Mystery Not of High Heels…
Glore Case: Shut and Open
An update on the Virginia Glore Case
TV Eye
“Down There” gets its proper due on HBO.
Day Trips
After a relaxing walk on the beach, grab a cuppa joe and a pastry at Beeman’s Coffee Bar.
Phases and Stages
Slayer@La Zona RosaFebruary 4 It wasn’t even cold outside. Given the fire and brimstone engulfing the sold-out mob inside La Zona Rosa during the first show of a two-night stand, a teeth-rattling thunderstorm would have been more fitting than a damp Austin night. It should have been “Raining Blood.” Not that that “which we all…
Naked City
Last week, the City Council approved Deputy City Manager Toby Futrell as the “acting city manager designate.” City Hall sources said several council members have advised Futrell not to follow all of the footprints left by departing City Manager Jesus Garza, who’s going to the Lower Colorado River Authority on May 1. One possible suggestion…
Mr. Smarty Pants
The kitchen at Apsley House, the residence of the Duke of Wellington, contains more than 500 Jell-O molds.Waco is one of only two cities in the U.S. that has a radio station whose call letters spell out the name of the city.The word “daemon” was first applied to describe processes that occur in the background…
Phases and Stages
American People, Meat Purveyors @Hole In The WallFebruary 2 After breaking up more than a year ago, the Meat Purveyors are back pickin’ and grinnin’ their way into Austin’s heart. The only obvious change appears to be the hairdo of singer Jo Walston, who now possesses a bouffant worthy of B-52’s Kate Pierson and Cindy…
Naked City
While the Greater Austin Chamber and other business leaders mourn the one that got away, local environmentalists are relieved that Advanced Micro Devices chose not to build its $3 billion chipmaking plant here. Instead, AMD picked Singapore over Central Texas as the site for its next-generation facility, in partnership with Taiwan-based United Microelectronics Corp. “It…
Monster’s Ball
Monster’s Ball 2002, R, 108 min. Directed by Marc Forster, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Coronji Calhoun, Mos Def, Sean Combs, Peter Boyle, Heath Ledger, Halle Berry, Billy Bob Thornton. Monster’s Ball is the kind of quiet, effective film that burrows under the viewer’s skin and takes root before you’ve had a chance…
To Your Health
I am trying to convince my husband to reduce his salt intake. He doesn’t have high blood pressure, but it does run in his family. What reasons can I give him?
Phases and Stages
Texas Eastside Kings@Victory GrillFebruary 1 Location, location, location. When it comes to the blues, few places compare to Austin’s Victory Grill, a vibrant Eastside venue that’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Likewise, the Texas Eastside Kings embody the Lone Star strain of electric blues, à la Albert Collins, Texas Johnny Brown (who’s…
Naked City
The Rad-Waste Four — four protesters and members of an anti-nuclear waste group adamantly opposed to dumping at the Andrews waste site in West Texas — returned to court Jan. 31 to face charges of “disrupting” a May 2001 Senate debate over a bill to send nuclear waste to the Andrews site. The bill ultimately…
Collateral Damage
Collateral Damage 2002, R, 109 min. Directed by Andrew Davis, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Elias Koteas, Cliff Curtis, Francesca Neri, John Leguizamo, John Turturro. If I tell you this film is a subpar action mishap, does that mean the terrorists win? Let’s hope not: Collateral Damage, the new film from…
About AIDS
HIV/AIDS has hit sub-Saharan Africa harder than any other region of the world: AIDS started there, and perhaps 75% of all HIV-infected people are found there. The epidemic has disrupted not only the lives of countless individuals and families, but it increasingly threatens the stability of whole communities, segments of the economy, and perhaps even…
Phases and Stages
Wynton Marsalis & the Lincoln Jazz Center Orchestra@Paramount Theatre Maynard Ferguson & Big Bop Nouveau @One World TheatreJanuary 31 Big band jazz wasn’t meant for sittin’ ‘n’ listenin’, clapping on cue. That the full house at Austin’s downtown palace the Paramount Theatre never seemed quite sure when to erupt into applause was proof. Pied piper…
Naked City
The Governor’s Task Force on Homeland Security, chaired by Land Commissioner (and lieutenant governor candidate) David Dewhurst, last week recommended 44 ways to make Texas safer from terrorist attacks. Despite having “heard the good news that Texas is amazingly well prepared to handle emergencies,” the Task Force devised ways for the state to spend many,…
Second Helpings: Interior Mexican
Interior Mexican restaurants
After a Fashion
Pills in the hand are worth a mouthful of Bush and some Texas Film Hall of Fame teasers are the tip of this week’s dish iceberg.
Phases and Stages
The Breeders@Emo’sJanuary 30 Is Eighties nostalgia already spent? Certainly this Breeders reunion had the feel of a Nineties revival. Once upon a time, college rock was king, Last Splash ruled the campuses, and everybody loved Kim Deal. Based on this night’s sold-out, $17-a-head turnout, they still do. After a theremin-spiked warm-up set by Dallasite John…
Naked City
Several state public interest groups filed suit Monday against the Environmental Protection Agency, challenging the EPA’s December approval of the Texas air pollution permitting program despite the agency’s own admission that the program does not meet federal standards. The groups include Public Citizen, the Sierra Club, and the Galveston-Houston Area Association for Smog Prevention. Similar…
Love and a VCR
Don’t have any one to cuddle up to on Valentine’s Day? Hunker down with the most romantic moments in movies instead.
Coach’s Corner
Mark Cuban has transformed the once-pathetic Dallas Mavericks into an elite NBA squad — but they’re not quite there yet.
A Shifting Landscape
Texas Parks & Wildlife at an organizational crossroads
Naked City
Last week, Longhorn Partners Pipeline LP shrugged off the city of Austin’s refusal to issue the company a permit — and continued replacing portions of its pipeline in Southwest Austin as though nothing had happened. In truth, nothing had happened. As Longhorn pointed out in a terse response: “We appreciate the city meeting the permit…
How Playfest’s Bernadette Nason Got Hooked on Theatre
As Playfest begins its 10th season this week, the Chronicle turned to actor-storyteller Bernadette Nason, one of the longtime regular contributors to the festival, to see what part theatre played in her childhood and how it influenced her current work.
Miguel and the Miracles
Why Austin’s most revered restaurant, Fonda San Miguel, is still in business against all odds.
21st Century Goals
Key findings of the 21st-century TPW report
Austin @ Large: Austin at Large
The charter vs. the election code in court
Articulations
Pat Jasper gets a Valentine’s tribute for her years at Texas Folklife Resources, and playwrights John Walch and Paullette MacDougal enjoy a couple of out of town openings.
Hostess With the Mostess
When Tom Gilliland was a student at the University of Texas School of Law in the late Sixties, he ate five days a week at Tower Drugstore, near where Posse East is now. Mercedes Ramos worked behind the counter there, along with her sisters Francis, Anna, Mary, Mary Lou, and Millie. The abundance of Ramos…
“Habitat, Habitat, Habitat”
Excerpts from an interview with Robert L. Cook
Capitol Chronicle
NMD is a bad idea, says Nobel Prize winner Steven Weinberg.
Exhibitionism
In the Zachary Scott Theatre Center’s production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Andrew Rannells is wonderfully ablaze in the role of the German-born rocker whose sex-change operation was botched, and everything about this hilarious musical spectacle has been fine-tuned to maximum pleasure.
Fonda San Miguel Timeline
1972-1975 Tom Gilliland and Miguel Ravago operate San Angel restaurant in Houston, serving interior Mexican cuisine to a small but very loyal clientele. Diana Kennedy, the grande dame of Mexican cuisine, eats there and becomes their culinary mentor. November, 1975 With the enthusiastic support of some local backers, partners Gilliland and Ravago open Fonda San…
Perry’s Commissioners
TPW Commissioners promoted or appointed by Gov. Rick Perry
The Hightower Lowdown
Linda Lay is a poor little rich girl; the WTO bites its own creators; Enron got what it paid for.
Exhibitionism
In Madame X, playwright Ann Ciccolella dramatizes the events surrounding the creation of Sargent’s famous portrait of Virginie Gautrau, using them as a springboard for an absorbing inquiry into the meaning and relationships of art, beauty, and society.
Food-o-File
All the restaurant news that fits
Neighborly Planning
The city, businesses, and residents all seem pleased with the results of the East Martin Luther King Neighborhood Planning Workshop.
Film on the Fringe
The Blue Theater’s new experimental film and video series Blue Screen looks to redefine the parameters of ‘independent’ cinema.
